1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a luminescent intensity analysis method and apparatus for quantification of a chemical substance.
2. Related Background Art
The quantification of a luminescent substance captured on a thin film or a plate, based on the luminescent intensity of a fluorescent substance or the like, is widely performed. In the case where the in-plane distribution of luminescent intensity of an obtained image is uniform, the luminescent intensity of the luminescent surface can be used for quantification. However, in the case where the luminescent state is not uniform, it is necessary to separate luminescent portions from non-luminescent portions so as to enhance quantitativity. Japanese Patent Nos. 2947305 and 3270722 (US AA2001006783) disclose a procedure in which, for the measurement of the concentration of a fluorescent substance in a microorganism after obtaining a fluorescent intensity image, the obtained image is binarized with a predetermined threshold value, then excising sites to be measured, and integrating the fluorescent intensity of the sites. Furthermore, Japanese Patent No. 3129631 discloses a method including dyeing a bacterium with a luminescent enzyme, obtaining a calibration curve illustrative of the relation between the total luminescent amount and the number of bacterial bodies to be measured to obtain the number of bacterial bodies, or divide the total luminescent amount by the average luminescent amount per bacterial body to obtain the number of bacterial bodies.
However, according to the above-mentioned measurement method, it is basically necessary to excise sites to be measured, and to set an arbitrary processing standard suitable for the measurement system. Furthermore, in the case of processing an image exceeding the optical resolution, the morphological significance of excision will be lost.